Thomas mcgovern



3 SheetsShet 1.

(No Model.)

T. MOGOVERN.

BURIAL GASKET.

Patented July 30, 1889.

INVENTOR:

WITNESSES I n. PETERS Phnlaljlhogmpher. Washington. a, c,

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2. T. MOG'OVERN. BURIAL GASKET No. 407,897. Patented Ju1y30, 1889.

Figmi INVENTORI WITNESSES:

.dttorney.

N. PETERS. Phawwhn her. Washingtun, D. c.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

T. MCGOVERN.

BURIAL GASKET.

No. 407,897. Patented July 30, 1889.

INVENTOR:

By/QQW W flttorney.

and the casket closed.

UNITED STATES ATENT FFICE.

THOMAS MOGOVERN, OF NEWV YORK, N. Y.

BU RlAL-CASKET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 407,897, dated July 30, 1889.

Application filed March 2'7, 1889. Serial No. 304,972. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS MoGovERN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain Improvements in Burial Cases or Caskets, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class or kind of caskets which have a removable cover and a sliding section in said cover; and the object of my invention is to provide a casket wherein the sliding section of the cover slides over and above the fixed or stationary section thereof. The advantages of this construction will be more fully described and set forth hereinafter.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrative of my invention, Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional perspective view of a casket provided with my improvements. This view shows the sliding section of the cover in place Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of the same, showing the sliding section of the cover displaced. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view of the cover of the casket as it would appear if the sliding section were omitted. This view is designed to illustrate the preferred form of the grooves. Figs. 4 and 5 are views of the same character as Figs. 1 and 2, illustrating a slightly-modified construction that will be hereinafter described; and Figs. 6 and 6 are fragmentary detail views on a larger scale, illustrating the fastening device seen in Figs. at and 5. Figs. 7, 8, and 9 are, respectively, a plan, a transverse section, and a longitudinal section of another modified construction of the casket.

I will now describe the construction illustrated in the first three figures of the drawings. I

A represents a burial-case, coffin, or casket of the usual or any suitable form, and B represents its removable lid or cover. These may be made of wood, metal, or any other suitable material, and the cover may be removably secured to the casket with screws in the usual manner. The casket will usually be lined with some fabric, and it may also be covered exteriorly with fabric; but I have purposely omitted all such trimmings in the drawings, in order to avoid obscuring the novel features of my invention, which pertains entirely to the cover or lid B.

It is customary in constructing caskets for burial purposes to provide a removable or sliding section in the cover of the casket at the head of the same, in order that the face and upper portion of the body inclosed may be exposed. Where this section of the cover is made removable, so as to be taken entirely off from the casket, it is an incumbrance and is in the way during the funeral services, and where it is made to slide down toward the foot of the casket it has always, so far as I am aware, been arranged to slide below or underneath the fixed or foot section of the cover. Besides other inconveniences attending the shifting of such a sliding section, it has the disadvantage that it is apt to be impeded by the clothing of the body or bythe drapery of the casket and fail to operate properly at a time when such a failure would be specially embarrassing. To avoid these difficulties, I provide the cover of the casket with a fixed foot-section and a sliding head-section ar ranged to slide over and above the former. At the same time when the casketis closed the two sections will be flush exteriorly, by preference, and will be so constructed as to appear to be in one piece.

(t represents the fixed foot-section of the cover B, and-b represents the sliding headsection thereof. Onthe lid or cover is an elevated continuous rim 0, and on the end of the fixed section a, is a raised cross panel or transom a which is situated usually about the middle of the length of the casket, and is intended to receive the nameplate. The section Z) extends to this cross-panel of. The sliding section b rests at the head end of the casket in a groove (V, Fig. 3, in the inner face of the elevated rim or rail 0 at this end of the cover, and said section rests at its lateral edges in grooves d in the inner faces of the side portions of said raised rim 0. The grooves 61 are alike, and the form of one of them is fully illustrated in Fig. The upper margin of the groove d is straight and preferably parallel with the upper surface of the rim 0; but

ICO

said groove is wide enough atthe point where the section b rests in it when the casket is closed (as in Fig. 1) to allow said section to descend to a level with the fixed section a. That portion of the groove d situated over or above the level. of the section a, and which will be occupied by the section Z) when the latter is displaced, (as in Fig. 2,) will be just wide enough to receive the edge of said sliding section. Said groove will be situated high enough in the rim 0 to allow the section b to slide over the section a and panel a without touching or chafing these parts.

The sliding section will be provided with some suitable fastening to prevent it from being displaced accidentally or inadvertently when closed. This fastening may consist of a knob 6, connected through a slot in the section I) with a sliding bolt e (see Fig. 2,) on the under side of said section arranged to enter a socket or recess in the panel a when the sliding section is in place and the casket closed.

In order to slide the section 1) down to the foot of the casket, it is lifted up at the end next to the panel a by grasping the knob e, and after its other end has been drawn out and freed from the groove d that end is also liftedby means of another knob f, and the section isthen slid along over the panel a and section CL. Any form of handles may be substituted for the knobs e and f. a

The construction illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 differs from that just described only in this: that the panel a in the construction described is fixed and forms a part of the section a, while the corresponding panel b in Figs. 4 and 5 is movable and forms a part of the sliding section b. In this construction the panel b takes over the end of the section a, being recessed on its under side for that purpose. A boltsimilar to that described may serve as a fastening for the sliding section; but in Figs. 6 and 6 I have shown a fastening in the form of a turn-button. Fig. 6 is a sectional elevation, and Fig. 6 a plan view, of the under side thereof. In this device, e is the knob, the shank of which is rotatively mounted in a metal plate 6', set in or on the section 1) adjacent to the panel b This shank extends down through the section I), and has fixed on its inner end a button 6", which plays in a recess in the lower face of the section b. This button may be turned so as to take under some part of the fixed section a, and where the section a is of wood I prefer toprovide it with a metal plate a for the button to take under.

To slide the head-section Z) back to the position seen in Fig. 2, it is only necessary to grasp the knob 8, turn it until the button is free from the fixed section a, and then lift that end of the section b where the knob is situated and draw the section toward the foot of the casket. The section Z2 may thus be slid along in the grooves 02 to the position seen in Fig. 2, or as far as may be desired. In order to ease the sliding section in its movements,

it may be provided at its other end with a knob f, whereby that end may be lifted simultaneously with the other end after the section has been moved far enough to disengage the end from the end groove d Ordinarily, caskets of this description have removable glass plates in the cover at the head end thereof, and where I employ such a plate I usually set it in suitable grooves in the end and sides of the frame of the cover B, as seen in the drawings, where g represents a plate of glass arranged below the sliding section b and independent thereof. This plate may rest in grooves at its sides and at one end only, or it may be fixed in posit-ion in any convenient manner.

Another modified form of the cover of the casket is shown in Figs. 7, 8, and 9. In the construction therein shown the elevated rim 0 is omitted, and the sliding section b is provided at its under side with L-shaped pieces h, which take into undercut grooves i in the upper face of the frame of the cover B and of the fixed section a. The groove 1' is formed, as shown, on the same principle as the groove d, before describedth at is, so that the section b may descend until it is flush with the sec- '9 5 tion a when in place. In this case it will rest on the top or upper face of the frame of the cover. lVhen it is slid along over the coversection a, it will stand a little above and clear of the latter. I have shown the sections a and b formed with panels; but this is not essential. The plane of the section in Fig. 9 is along the line-groove 2', as indicated by the dotted line 9 9 in Figs.- 7 and 8.

As the transom or panel b in Figs. 4 and 5 will be carried to the foot of the casket in sliding down the section b, and as it is customary to place the name-plate either at the middle of the casket or at the head, the section b may, when this construction is adopted, have a base-piece or panel to receive the name-plate mounted on it at the point 70 in Figs. 4 and 5.

It is preferable to form the groovesin which the section b is guided or slides in such a manner that this section will, when in place and the casket closed, stand in flush with the section a; but this is not absolutely essential to my invention, the main purpose of which is to have the movable section slide over and above the fixed section, for the reasons given.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. The combination, with the casket, of the removable lid 01- cover of the same, provided In witness whereof I have hereunto signed 10 with a fixed foot-section, a sliding head-secmy name in the presence of two subscribing tion, which slides over and above the foot- Witnesses. section When displaced, and guiding-grooves in said cover for said sliding section, said grooves being deepest at the head end of said cover to permit the sliding section to descend Witnesses: to a level with the fixed section When in place, HENRY CONNF JTT, as and for the purposes set forth. J. D. CAPLINGER.

THOMAS MCGOVERN. 

